Haitian filmmaker Gessica Généus has won the Gold Hugo in the New Directors competition at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival for her film “Marie Madeleine,” Le Nouvelliste reported.

The award was announced on Friday, October 23, by Cinema/Chicago, the nonprofit that runs the festival, which ran from October 14 to 25. Le Nouvelliste describes it as America's oldest international film festival.

HaitiLibre reported that Généus is the first Black woman to win the festival's New Directors award.

The prize follows the Best Film award “Marie Madeleine” won in September at the Villa Medici Film Festival in Rome. The film, set in Jacmel, reimagines the story of Mary Magdalene.